Now that Uday Shankar’s dance film
Kalpana (1948, Hindi) is easily
viewable at Pad.ma, Shankar's dance style can be better analyzed and understood. While much has been written and theorized about Shankar’s dance based largely on written and photographic evidence, video is really worth a thousand words and photos! No longer must visual evidence of Shankar's dance be the purview of a tiny sliver of dance scholars (and lucky residents in India!) allowed private screenings while conducting field research. First
BritishPathe allowed us glimpses of Shankar's early choreography, and now
Kalpana has come to light for the general public to see a wide array of Shankar's works.
After watching
Kalpana, I was immediately struck by how varied the dances were: simple folk dance, Kathakali-based creative movement, classical dance, and modern dance based on social themes! I'll be writing more on my overall thoughts of Shankar's dance and legacy as a whole, but in this post I want to focus on the Kathakali-based dances.
I was very surprised at how much Shankar's style was influenced by the postures and movements of dance forms from Kerala, particularly Kathakali. I had read some references to Shankar's connections with Kathakali guru Shankaran Namboodiri and his teaching at Shankar’s dance center, but I didn’t realize the extent to which Shankar's dance style from his middle period was based in the dance form. I also didn’t realize until recently what “pure dance” in Kathakali consisted of given its seeming emphasis on narrative, and I couldn't find any visual teaching resources or books that had something comparable to "adavu" guides for Bharatanatyam.
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